Stephanie Coontz's What We Really Miss About The 1950s

For conclusion, the article, “What We Really Miss About the 1950s” by Stephanie Coontz shows that 1950s is the decade that have a lot of vote when it comes to the decade that good to live in. Even though, the rates are high, but the reason people choose it is because it have a more friendly economic. This decade do not suitable for people that be consider as the “others” during this time. So, this decade will only good for live in for the white people, or more narrowly will be for the white men. Because there’s a lot of sexism and racism during this decade.

Furthermore, The book by Mares (2006) outlined how TV could have played a profound role within the families and influencing how an interaction between families functioned. As television tries to portrait the exchanges and unrealistic scenarios within the families it does not representative how real working families relationships. It gives the viewers a fabricated interaction,

With the changing generation the institutions built up the next ideal family, the Brady bunch. But with this family came some confronting circumstances for the typical family of the working class dad, stay at home mother and two children in their white picket fenced home. The institutions knew that everyone would not instantly connect this family, as they were not classified as a ‘normal’ family. Instead they were made up of two broken families coming together to create a new one. By the use of powerful propaganda techniques such as ad nauseam and emotional appeal the institutions were able to manipulated the audience into loving them.

In the Brady Bunch, the new, challenging dimensions of a reformed family seem to be largely avoided and even ignored. These inaccurate portrayals motivate their research because they seek to explore “stepfamilies as they really are” and delve much deeper than the superficial images in the media. They want to get past the early, deficit comparison approaches, and explore the histories of the individuals rather than comparing them to other groups that are simply unlike

When society thinks about the stereotypical American Family what comes to mind first? Is it a dynamic multiracial diverse family with four children a mother that works the hours all week, and the father that stays and home at takes care of the kids? Or is it the “Leave It to Beaver” stay at home mom, stereotypical family that could be argued as today’s “regular” family? Whether it’s the standard or the dynamic media has changed the way that this is viewed and it has almost helped to form what is today’s “modern” family. Television is one of today’s biggest sources of media and has the ability to reach the vast majority of the American Population, with approximately 115 million households having television sets (Nielson.com).

[“TV has even become known as "America's baby-sitter." (Krieg). Meaning that parents are now using the television as a way of entertaining their children while they attempt to accomplish other things such as cooking and cleaning.”] (PATHOS)

For many years now when we picture the quixotic American family our thoughts often go to the suburbs. We visualize a family with a father, a mother and the average 2.5 children. Perhaps, this stereotypical family has roots in the 1950 's. After World War II, there was a substantial move from urban and rural areas to the freshly sprouted suburbs. The GI bill, signed into law in 1944, provided significant funding for this movement with low-interest mortgage loans. (Moon, n.d.) Into the twenty-first century, the suburbs and metropolitan areas continued their growth. (Frey, 2012) During the period the suburbs were in their genesis, a relatively new medium, the television, was placing its roots as a staple in the suburban living room. This device replaced the radio as a family 's focal point for news and entertainment. In the mid-fifties, a new form of entertainment emerged, the family situation comedy (sitcom). The show, “Father Knows Best” was credited as the first successful form of the new style of comedy in 1954, and would have an extended run in broadcast and syndication for the next thirteen years plus spawn many imitators such as “Leave it to Beaver”. (Taflinger, 1996) Because of their high viewership and capacity to produce income for networks, producers, and broadcast stations, the domestic sitcom continues to saturate the small screen today. (Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation, 2013)

Winn’s usage of the counterarguments provided by the experts strengthens her main argument about television’s strong impact on family life. The author, who paid for the studies, has a deeper understanding of the topic rather than being biased. Thus, attacking the counterarguments along with authoritative quotes makes Winn’s statement even more

In today’s time, television has a broad array of shows. These programs range from children’s cartoons all the way to real-life dramas. Reality television portrays families in their everyday lives and how the typically handle dramatic situations. Although there is some truth in the family’s lifestyles and relationships, reality television creates a false interpretation of the way everyday families should live; moreover, the producers construct staged scenes, unrealistic images, and promote immorality.

We do not normally question the types of reality television shows we like to watch. This is because over the years, reality television has dramatically increased therefore making it close to impossible to avoid this genre of television. Reality television has grown to be a part of America’s everyday norm and can always be found being talked about on the Internet, social media, magazines, etc. One of the first examples of reality television was in 1973 when “An American Family” first aired. The show was a twelve-hour document series about a couple and their five children living in Santa Barbra, California. The Loud Family lived in front of cameras for seven months, as viewers could not get enough of watching this family’s dramatic life unfold. (Revisit the Loud Family). As an immediate result of this new type of program, “An American Family” not only became one of the first reality television shows to air, but it also became one of the most controversial and most talked about television shows in its era. Being the first show without a host, interviews, and almost no voice-over narration, “An American Family” quickly captivated America’s popularity as the show related to viewers reality. Viewers received an enjoyable pleasure coming from a television program that was able to illustrate the negative side of both an average and relatable family. Therefore, the corruptive moments in the Loud family’s life and America’s enjoyment for those moments began the passageway for what has

Today’s television programs are very different from the television programs that were shown over fifty years ago. The shows in the past portrayed a modest conservative family. These families consist of a hardworking man and a stay at home woman, married raising their own biological children. As the years went by, television has started to portray a more liberal definition of what a family means in today’s world. Because of today’s TV shows, there are different ideas about what a family should look like.

As Television sales increased in the 1940s, more homes in the United States included TVs as a common accessory in the family room. Since then, televisions have become another tool for socialization individuals use to try and make sense of the world around them (Riesman, Denny, & Glaser, 1950). Furthermore, the combination of romance and mass media produced narratives continues to be a prominent form of entertainment where TV writers and producers construct a picture of what love should look like.

For years now, television has been invading the homes of families and subtly damaging the family rituals. From black and white to color and high definition, television has changed. Television has changed in appearance, and has changed in how it plays a role in families’ lives. A few years ago, many families did not own a T.V set and now it is almost as if it’s competition to see who watches more T.V, or who has the most and better T.V sets. Television has been destroying family rituals and the way people interact with each other at home as well as out in the real world. Television has destroyed many families including mine, and there are factors that subtly play into game when it comes to T.V destroying families’ rituals and morals

When the television first was introduced to the public, society was much different. Technology was something that was still rather new, as the radio was one of the biggest ways of receiving information, and not many could afford a television. Families that were fortunate enough to purchase a television would use it to listen to the news, and watch entertainment through means of variety shows with the family. In fact, one of the most memorable events in television during that time was when President Roosevelt was seen on television for the first time in history (Edgerton, 13). Reversely today, humans not only use television much more frequently, but now we depend on it. Instead of television being used strictly as means of relaying information and for family entertainment, today’s television is full of inappropriate

The modern day Reality TV has spawned from decades of transformation, and a change in the public interest, however has this change been for the better? Americans spend countless hours watching television; some may not even realize the show they are watching is in fact Reality TV. This new hybrid of television is capturing the interest of many, comprising of children and adults, which is creating a family norm to watch Reality TV. This form of television is beneficial to help recognize social issues, through various life-learning shows, while building stronger relationships of the family dynamic.